Jongeward, Willhemina "Mina" 1886-1976

JONGEWARD JONGEWAARD

Posted By: Linda Vander Linden - Volunteer (email)
Date: 1/19/2010 at 13:00:31

On Thursday, August 26, 1976, Miss Willhemina Jongeward passed away at her home in Redlands, Calif. "Mina", as she was affectionately known to her many friends in Sioux County and around the world, served as a Reformed Church missionary for 36 years at the Women's Industrial School, Arcot Mission, in India.

She was born in Sioux Center on November 19, 1886, and was a 1915 graduate of Sioux Center High School. She taught at Perkins Elementary School from 1915 to 1917, graduated from Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls in 1921 and taught Home Economics in Rock Rapids in 1921-1922.

While a missionary in India, she established a Child Welfare and Maternity Center connected to the Arcot Mission. From 1942 to 1945, during the second World War, she was loaned to the Indian YMCA and worked in Service Center with Indian and British troops. For that work she was awarded the Kaiser-l.N. Hind Medal for public service by the Indian Government and the British Empire Medal by the British government.

Since her retirement in 1961, she has lived with her sister Maria in Plymouth Village, an eccumenical retirement home for Christian workers in Redlands, Calif. She served on the Board of Plymouth Village and was active in the Bethany Reformed Church of Redlands.

Mina leaves three sisters, Maria Jongeward of Redlands, Calif.; Mrs. P. F., MacDonald of Cleveland, Ohip; Mrs. J. E. Kirkman of Madera, Calif., and one brother, Mr. Harold Jongeward of Rock Rapids, Iowa.

Funeral services were held in the Bethany Reformed Church of Redlands on Saturday, August 28 and in the Central Reformed Church of Sioux Center on Wednesday, September 1, where Miss Jongeward had been a member.

Mina Jongeward's lovely and energetic Christian presence will be deeply missed by all the many friends who knew her.

Source: Sioux Center News, September 1, 1976

NOTE: Jongewaard may be spelled with the double "a', and some family members shortened the spelling to just one "a".